There is one young face on Zac Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign who is strikingly familiar. He is tall and handsome, very sweet but rather serious. While most 18-year-olds from his affluent background would jet off on a round-the-world gap year on leaving school he has opted instead to pace the streets of London, knocking on doors and stuffing leaflets through letter boxes.

Sulaiman Isa Khan is Goldsmith’s nephew, son of his sister Jemima and her ex-husband Pakistani politician Imran Khan. And before heading to university in September he is cutting his political teeth on the Tory mayoral candidate’s campaign to succeed Boris Johnson.

Sulaiman has much in common with his beloved uncle. They are both charming and polite, intelligent and studious, and want to use politics to make a difference. Just as Zac’s environmentalism was inspired by his father’s brother Teddy Goldsmith, founder of the Green Party, so Sulaiman looks up to his own MP uncle.

And like Zac, whose younger brother Ben had a reputation as a bit of a wild child, he has a more gregarious younger sibling, leading to campaign insiders calling him “the more studious Zac to his brother’s livewire Ben”.

Sulaiman Isa Khan with his mother

Sulaiman has become a leading light of the Tory mayoral campaign’s youth wing but is just one member of the broader drive to get Zac elected, which also includes strategists who have advised Prime Ministers and Presidents.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan also has an impressive inner team, combining seasoned Westminster operatives with experts from outside politics, including a millionaire business adviser and an Old Etonian spin doctor. As the Tory and Labour candidates enter the final weeks of the race for City Hall, their teams are digging in for the battle ahead.

Team Zac

Nick de Bois — campaign chair

The convivial former MP, who lost his Enfield North seat at the general election so found himself with the time to help out Zac full-time, has become something of a political father figure. He is said to delight in the fact he has been mistaken for the dashing Richmond Park MP while out on the campaign trail. As the architect of “Enfield’s law”, the two strikes and you’re out rule for knife possession, de Bois is an experienced sounding board for crime policy.

Mark Fullbrook — campaign director

The gregarious political strategist sits in the general’s chair in Tory HQ, running a control room of around 30 staff and a web of hundreds of activists. His polling and focus groups have informed Zac’s campaign every step of the way. The former head of Tory campaigns knows London politics inside out after helping run Boris’s two successful mayoral bids. One of the brains behind the doughnut strategy, when the Tories won outer London. Insiders joke that his better-known colleague, Lynton Crosby, will only turn up in the final weeks if it looks like Zac is winning. Shares the Aussie election guru’s bullish style.

Tara Singh — policy director

The glossy Tory is the brains behind Zac’s yet-to-be-released manifesto. She joined from No 10, where she advised the PM on energy and climate change. Previously a lobbyist at British Gas-owner Centrica. Singh and Zac discovered their mutual passion for the environment in 2005 while working on David Cameron’s Quality of Life group. One of his closest campaign confidants.

Katy Eustice — communications director

The glamorous former journalist earned her political stripes working on Tory election campaigns — including last year’s when she joined her Tory MP husband George to help turn the South- West blue. She works for Crosby’s firm and has been with Zac since his selection, becoming his trusted gatekeeper and “front of house”.

Katy Eustice (Image: Rex)

Craig Elder — digital director

The social media expert who helped revolutionise Tory online campaigning at the last general election — he and partner Tom Edmonds were praised as the Tories’ “secret weapon” — heads Zac’s online team. A whizz at using social media habits, spending and postcode data to read Londoners’ minds. The mayoral hopeful is already targeting voters with tailored messaging on Facebook and via Twitter. One insider describes him as “more personable than your average geek”.

Jim Messina — consultant

Zac will have dug deep to bring American strategist Messina, who ran Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, on board — the Tories paid him £369,000 at the 2015 election for advanced market research. He is working from over the Pond to focus on the voters they believe will decide the result. Messina’s priority is to talk to “the right people” time and time again to persuade a more targeted portion of swing voters to back his man. As Zac is currently behind and will need second-preference votes to win, he will be hoping for every ounce of the US strategy guru’s electoral wizardry.

Alex Crowley — political director

Having cut his teeth on Boris’s campaigns, he is now reprising his 2012 role. His grasp of research and policy and deftness with rapid response makes him a useful — and dependable — figure. After 2012, he wrote a book, Victory in London, which revealed Crosby considered some of the Mayor’s closest aides to be “f***wits”.

Boris Johnson — mentor

The Mayor knows the best way to secure his legacy is for the Tory candidate to win. The Tories know Boris, who remains hugely popular in the capital, is their best weapon. “Vote Sadiq, get Corbyn or Vote Zac, get Boris,” is a key message. The blond bombshell name-checks Zac at every opportunity.

Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith

Ben Elliot — confidant

One of London’s best-connected, Elliot has pledged to do “anything I can to help” old chum Zac’s campaign. The Duchess of Cornwall’s nephew, known as the A-listers’ ‘Mr Fixit’, runs concierge service Quintessentially. He has previously flown teabags across the Atlantic for Madonna but Zac’s demands are more low-key — needing Elliot to act as a trusted sounding board at all hours.

Alice Goldsmith — wife

Zac married the second Mrs G, banking heiress Alice Rothschild, in 2013 after they bonded over late-night poker sessions and they have two children.

Zac Goldsmith mayoral policies explained

Team Sadiq

David Bellamy — campaign manager

The towering Yorkshireman is an old friend and former Tooting agent, so he knows where all the bodies are buried. He brings extensive private sector experience — and a good head for figures — from his career at data giant Experian. Sadiq is a fan of his dry wit.

Patrick Hennessy — communications director

The highly respected spin doctor is a former journalist who jumped from the Sunday Telegraph to become Labour’s deputy director of communications under Ed Miliband. Eton and Oxford-educated, he surprised many when he “came out” as a supporter of the Labour Party. Sadiq’s subsequent hiring of Hennessy was a masterstroke as he won the collective ear of the press in one fell swoop.

Jack Stenner — political director

Team Khan’s chief strategist and resident wunderkind — he’s still in his twenties. Bright, energetic, urban, Stenner played a blinder when he masterminded Sadiq’s surprise victory over Tessa Jowell to become Labour’s candidate. He manages the campaign’s messaging — the “son of a bus driver “line is all his fault — and polling. Labour moless say he would take a bullet for Sadiq, such is his fierce loyalty.

Sadiq Khan with wife Saadiya Khan

Dr Nick Bowes — policy director

The brains behind Sadiq’s “Manifesto for Londoners” which, although only published a couple of weeks ago, has been making its mark, with big ideas like the fares freeze and a living rent. iInsiders say the serious-minded aide could have a good crack at running London.

Leah Kreitzman — senior adviser

An old friend and one of Sadiq’s most trusted confidantes. The warm, bubbly LSE graduate was director of public affairs for Unicef UK. She also provides a useful link to London’s Jewish community at a time Labour needs to build bridges.

Alison Picton — senior adviser

Sadiq’s gatekeeper: every politician needs one. Ali, his long-serving — some might say long-suffering — diary and office manager combines protecting her boss with encouraging him to show his friendly side. Insiders say she is responsible for Sadiq’s better jokes.

Rajesh Agrawal — business adviser

The British Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist grew up in poverty in India before moving to the UK and making his £90 million fortune with foreign exchange company Rational FX. Among the first businessmen to defend Labour against “anti-business” accusations, he is helping Sadiq woo the City.

Ellie Robinson — stakeholder director

Caught Sadiq’s eye when she worked on Ed Miliband’s leadership campaign, which he ran. She is now in charge of getting him together with London’s huge range of interest groups. Credited with raising his profile as a tenacious campaigner.

Saadiya Ahmed — wife

Sadiq met his childhood sweetheart at their Tooting comprehensive. She became Mrs Khan in 1994 — the couple have two teenage daughters. Saadiya, a human rights lawyer, has supported his political career from the start — they married the year he became a local councillor. Although she shies away from the limelight, she appears by his side for key events and behind the scenes she is his biggest cheerleader, and most trusted sounding board.